Anganwadi workers and helpers will soon start getting an increased honorarium every month.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), at its meeting presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved a proposal for increasing monthly honorarium of the Anganwadi workers and helpers with effect from October 1.
This comes days after Modi announced his government's decision to hike the monthly honorarium of the Anganwadi workers and helpers on September 11.
The Anganwadi workers will now get Rs 4,500 as honorarium per month, instead of Rs 3,000.
The revised honorarium of the Anganwadi workers, deployed at mini-Anganwadi centres, will now come at Rs 3,500 per month, instead of Rs 2,250.
The Anganwadi helpers, who were entitled for an honorarium of Rs 1,500 per month so far, will now get Rs 2,250 per month in addition to a monthly performance linked incentive of Rs 250.
“Nearly 27-lakh Anganwadi workers and helpers will be benefited by the Cabinet approval,” the Women and Child Development (WCD) ministry said in a statement.
The CCEA also approved doubling of “routine incentives” given to the ASHA workers for various activities under the National Health Mission.
It also gave nod to a proposal to provided free insurance cover to ASHA workers and ASHA facilitators under the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Prime Minister Suraksha Bima Yojana.
“The CCEA chaired by the Prime Minister gave its ex-post facto approval to ASHA benefit package with effect from October, 2018,” the government said
The ASHA workers will get a minimum of Rs 2,000 per month, instead of the current Rs 1,000 per month, as incentives for routine activities.
“This is in addition to other task based incentives approved at Central/State level,” the government said
The revised ASHA benefit package will be be paid in November, it added.